Although former-president Bill Clinton had been quite popular among the Cuban-Americans during his time, a lot of political analysts doubt if such will still be the case with his wife Senator Hillary Clinton. Note that the popularity of former-president Bill Clinton in the Cuban-American community suffered considerably when he decided to return Elian Gonzales to Cuba. The Cuban boy who tried to escape to the United States aboard a small aluminum boat with faulty engine in November 1999 was one of the two survivors of the ill-fated journey which took the life of his mother.
According to the Florida poll numbers posted on USAElectionPolls.com, Hillary Clinton has twice the support as Obama.
After a heated battle on the custody of the boy which sparked demonstrations both in Cuba and the United States, the US government decided to return Elian to his father in Cuba. The return of Elian Gonzales to Cuba provoked such outraged among the Cuban-Americans at that time that around 80% of the Cuban-Americans in Florida voted from Republican candidates during the 2000 presidential election. The results of the 2002 gubernatorial election also showed that the Cuban-Americans have not forgotten the incident when they again caste more that 80% of their votes in favor of the Republican candidates.
Given the history of the relationship of the Clintons with the Cuban-Americans and the way Senator Barack Obama went out of his way to wow the Cuban-Americans with promises of more lenient foreign policies which include abolishing the travel and remittance restrictions of Cuban-Americans to Cuba, many political observers believe that Cuban-Americans will vote for Senator Obama as president. Although the votes of the Cuban-Americans may not really be that big, analysts believe that these votes can still help a lot in Senator Obama’s candidacy.
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http://www.usaelectionpolls.com
